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County School Trustee, Position 3, At-Large

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Richard Cantu
(Dem)

Josh Wallenstein
(Dem)

Biographical Information

If elected, what do you hope to achieve during your term in office?

What do you see as the appropriate role of the County School Board in ensuring that residents in Harris County are receiving the best possible educational opportunities? Please address education at all levels from early childhood to adult.

In your opinion, what are the three most valuable services currently being provided by the County Board of Education?

As a Harris County School Trustee, I will work to develop better access to Early Childhood Education which is critically important for future success, expand Afterschool Enrichment opportunities for our kids, promote Workforce Development opportunities so that we can compete globally, support Professional Development so that our teachers have the tools and resources necessary to produce our nation’s best, and ensure that every Tax Payer dollar is invested cautiously!

The Harris County Department of Education (HCDE) is one of the county’s best kept secrets, as it provides important services to the community and to the 25 area school districts it serves. HCDE has leveraged resources effectively, providing $2 in services for every dollar invested by area school districts and tax-payers. Currently, over 1300 pre-school age children access Early Childhood Education at 15 Head Start Centers throughout Harris County, while quality Afterschool Services are provided to almost 15,000 youth. HCDE’s Adult Education division helps approximately 9000 adult learners obtain their GEDs and prepare for new careers. Over 7000 students with special learning accommodations are provided School-Based Therapy Services at their home campuses. The HCDE board must ensure that we expand opportunities for working families to access Head Start, keep our kids safe by providing afterschool services, and offers adult education courses that help make connections to better jobs.

• EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION – We must develop better accessibility to Early Childhood Education opportunities for our families so that more of our youth have a “head start”!
• AFTERSCHOOL ENRICHMENT – We must work to expand partnerships that offer afterschool enrichment for our youth so that every kid that needs it has access. Our kids need more options for safe and engaging programs to keep them on the right track during afterschool hours.
• ALTERNATIVE / SPECIAL EDUCATION – Special needs students access to alternative education services helps ensure that we are providing a safety net for those that might otherwise have no other options. These services are oftentimes the lifeline that special needs students need to be a part of the mainstream and will therefore function as productive members of society.

• If the HCDE were eliminated, our school taxes would dramatically rise. I will fight to retain the HCDE as the county’s most cost-effective way to support public education. I will also resist raising tax rates, and will focus on maintaining efficiencies.
• The primary job of elected Trustees is to comprehensively review dozens of contracts each month. As the only contracts lawyer in the race, I will ensure that the HCDE uses taxpayer funds wisely, eliminates waste, and avoids both costly liabilities and conflicts of interest.
• Certain Trustees have engaged in unethical self-dealing. I will use parliamentary process and legal arguments to ensure that the public’s interests are served.
• In an effort to break the school-to-prison pipeline, I will support the creation of multiple additional county recovery schools for victims of substance abuse.
• With my extensive experience in negotiation, I will reduce partisanship on the board so as to prioritize win-win decisions.

The HCDE is the most cost-effective use of tax dollars in the county. For every $1 in taxes, the HCDE receives over $3 in matching grants and external funding. It then leverages economies of scale to multiply the value of our tax dollars by almost 450%.

HCDE’s elected Board oversees the HCDE's administration; it reviews dozens of contracts each month, and ensures that the HCDE spends tax dollars to develop and provide lower cost services so that schools can spend more local dollars in the classroom. It also oversees the largest adult education program in the State (GED, ESL and workforce training).

The Board must:
• advance the most necessary and cost-effective services to support our students and our schools.
• make decisions based primarily on the question, “will this help or hurt students?”
• ensure that high quality teachers and services remain available at reasonable rates across the county, for both kids and adult learners.
• build facilities where they are most needed.

The Board oversees the HCDE in its provision of essential services. Some services simply provide cost savings for our IDS; three of the most valuable services offered directly by the HCDE are:
• Head Start: vital early education for our most vulnerable children. Head Start helps kids prepare for school, so that they don’t fall behind and (potentially) drop out.
• Adult Education: the largest provider of adult education in State! The HCDE educates adults so as to achieve their potential, take advantage of better job opportunities, or advance in higher education. All of these efforts make better citizens.
• HCDE Schools: alternative campuses, focused on students with academic or behavioral disabilities; adjudicated youth; and victims of substance abuse. It is our ethical mandate to do all we can to break the school-to-prison pipeline, and otherwise empower all youth to achieve their potential. These indispensable services demonstrate our ethics in action.

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